iOS 5.1.1

Winocm tweeted today that he was working on a method for downgrading from iOS 6 to 5.1.1 that will work on all devices. This is noteworthy as downgrades on most A5+ devices were either difficult, in the case of the iPad 2, or not possible in Redsn0w once Apple stopped signing the iOS 5 firmware.

Winocm is known for his work in PS3 firmware hacking and contributes tweaks such as CameraConnector to Cydia under the name ‘rms’. Winocm seems to be working on a lot of projects: A day before the downgrade tweet, Winocm posted a video of linux booting up on an iPhone 4 to YouTube (pictured above)…

Hot on the heels of posting the eagerly anticipated iTunes 11, a major revamp of the jukebox app focused on iCloud integration and cleaner navigation, Apple of California also started pushing an incremental update to the Apple TV, its $99 set-top box. The iOS 5.1.1 firmware number with a build number of 10A831 is now available as a Software Update for both the second and third-generation Apple TV. To apply it, just choose Settings > General > About on your Apple TV…

We’ve been stressing how many new features were packed into the new RedSn0w, and we weren’t kidding. Another under the radar feature that’s been added to the new RedSn0w is the ability to jailbreak iOS 5.1.1 untethered on Pre-A5 devices in A5 Non DFU style.

This is accomplished using the same method used for jailbreak tools like Absinthe, which utilizes backup and restore instead of the typical DFU ramdisk method. This is a great feature that speeds up the jailbreak process on Pre-A5 devices running iOS 5.1.1. Check inside as we give you a video demonstration and tutorial showing how it works.

Have an iPhone 4, iPod touch, or below running iOS 6, and would like to downgrade back to iOS 5.1.1? Doing so is easy is you have your SHSH blobs saved for iOS 5.1.1 and can follow the steps inside. Unlike the beta period of iOS 6, you must have your SHSH blobs for iOS 5.1.1 save for you device now, because Apple has stopped signing iOS 5.1.1.

To downgrade, you will need the latest public version of RedSn0w. We will use the SHSH Stitching feature to combine the appropriate IPSW file for 5.1.1 and your corresponding SHSH blob for the device you wish to downgrade. It may sound a bit confusing, but it’s extremely easy if you follow along carefully.

Hot on the heels of the iOS 6 official release, the iPhone Dev Team, headline by its most prominent member, MuscleNerd, is making moves as well.

Today they introduce new RE-Restore functionality that will allow users on iOS 5.1.1 to restore their devices to a fresh install iOS 5.1.1. This can come in handy if you ever need a fresh install for whatever reason, i.e. a bad jailbreak install, etc.

For those eligible to use the RE-restore, this means that you never have to worry about losing your 5.1.1 jailbreak, as long as you don’t go near iOS 6. Check inside for the details…

So, you’d like to downgrade your iOS 6 beta install back to iOS 5.1.1? If you’ve ever dealt with downgrading firmware in the past, then you know how much of a pain it can potentially be. Fortunately when it comes to downgrading beta firmware back to public firmware, it’s extremely easy.

That’s because Apple is still actively signing iOS 5.1.1 due to the fact that it’s the latest public firmware available. Hence, you can easily downgrade without any tricks, host file changes, SHSH blobs, TinyUmbrella, etc. Literally, all you do is hook up your iPhone, go into DFU mode, open iTunes and downgrade. Watch our video inside to see how utterly simple the process is…

With iOS 5.1.1, there’s no shortage of tools available to perform an untethered jailbreak. In fact, there’s so much saturation from a tool perspective, that it can be a little difficult to discern which tool to use.

Inside, we’ll briefly cover some of the tools available, and some of the popular scenarios where certain tools fare better than others.

As promised, here is the follow up tutorial for performing an untethered jailbreak on iOS 5.1.1 using the traditional DFU method. This tutorial is for the latest version of RedSn0w 0.9.12b1, and only works with A4 devices and below (A5 devices are not compatible with this method). If you want to use your A5 device — iPad 2, the new iPad, or the iPhone 4S — then see our previous Non-DFU mode tutorial for RedSn0w.

In most cases you should use the Non-DFU method for jailbreaking your devices, even if it’s an A4 device. The exception comes if you have a lot of media stored on your A4 device or below. If you have a lot of media on your device, the iPhone Dev Team advises that this traditional method for jailbreaking may be a best practice due to iCloud syncing issues.

With the release of RedSn0w 0.9.12.b1, you now have the ability to perform an untethered jailbreak on almost every iOS 5.1.1 compatible device. RedSn0w 0.9.12b1 even works with A5 devices like the iPad 2, the new iPad, and the iPhone 4S.

The only requirement for A5 devices is that you use the non-DFU method when using RedSn0w. RedSn0w also includes support for the older DFU-based limera1n method as well, but that is for A4 devices and below only. In this particular tutorial, we will showcase how to jailbreak your device using the universal non-DFU method that works with all devices.

This is the simpler of the two methods included with RedSn0w, and is recommended unless your device happens to contain a lot of media, as noted by the iPhone Dev Team.

The iPhone Dev Team has been mighty busy as of late, updating their popular jailbreak tools with 5.1.1 Untether compatibly using the Rocky Racoon 5.1.1 Untether. The updates include PwnageTool 5.1.1, Redsn0w 0.9.12b1, cinject 0.5.4, and UltraSn0w 1.2.7.

If you’ve already jailbroken your device, and everything is working fine, they suggest, as do we, that you stick with your current jailbreak. If, on the other hand, you’ve experienced problems with tools like Absinthe, then you may welcome the addition of these updated tools from the iPhone Dev Team. Keep in mind that the underlying jailbreak is the same across all tools; they all utilize the Rocky Racoon untether where appropriate; the only difference is the way the exploit is injected.

Take a look inside for notes from the iPhone Dev Team, as well as download locations for the new tools.

The Chronic Dev Team, as expected, has released an update to the Absinthe jailbreak tool to enable iPad 2,4 untethered jailbreak support for iOS 5.1.1.

The iPad 2,4 is the updated version of the iPad 2 that features a new chipset yielding improved battery life. Due to the rarity of this version of the iPad 2, support was withheld until further testing could be done. Now it’s obvious that the testing was completed successfully…

If you happen to own a newer WiFi only iPad 2,4, you undoubtedly know what it feels like to be left out of the fun. That’s because the iPad 2,4 is one of the very few iOS 5.1.1 devices that can’t be jailbroken with the new Absinthe 5.1.1 untethered jailbreak tool. Outside of the Apple TV 3, you’re among some pretty lonely company.

Fortunately, it looks like all of that is about to change. During the initial release of Absinthe, the team of hackers stated that iPad 2,4 support was coming soon, and it looks like that statement is holding true.